Economics of Organic Farming over Conventional Farming- A Case Study in Karnataka, India

Abstract

Organic farming has the potential to provide benefits in terms of environmental protection, conservation of non-renewable resources and improved food quality. India is bestowed with lot of potential to produce all varieties of organic products due to its diverse agroclimatic regions. In several parts of the country, the inherited tradition of organic farming is an added advantage. This holds promise for the organic producers to tap the market which is growing steadily in the domestic market related to the export market. Cost of production and benefit cost ration has been calculated for ragi and maize crops of both organic and conventional farming meanwhile comparison among them also carried out. It is found that cost of production of organic ragi and maize per acre were Rs.24817 and Rs.30299 which is more than conventional farming i.e., Rs.17128 and Rs. 21655 respectively. Whereas B: C ratio for organic ragi and maize found to be 1.08 and 1.37 which is higher than the conventional farming of 0.78 and 1.12. Government needs to spread awareness about organic farming through proper policies.